Hardwood Styles

Basic knowledge about hardwood styles and personalities.

Knowing someone’s style can tell you many things about him
or her. The same goes when shopping for hardwood flooring.

Understanding the types, species and finishes of hardwood
products can provide you with valuable information, let you
shop smarter and compare with confidence.

In this section you’ll learn all about the wide array of
hardwood styles on the market today. In fact, there are so
many design options available you can create a hardwood
floor that matches both your lifestyle and your desire for
beauty, durability and practicality.

For example, inserting decorative medallions, running the
boards on the diagonal, or creating a border are just some
of the designs one can consider.

But before you get to the design, you need to know how to
select the type of hardwood that’s right for you and your
home.

Today you can choose between a pre-finished hardwood floor
and one that is unfinished.

Pre-finished hardwood comes ready for installation in your
home. The hardwood boards have already been sanded, stained
and finished at the manufacturing plant. In many cases this
can provide a harder, better- protected surface.

Pre-finished floors offer a wider variety of wood species
and save hours of labor and cleanup.

But unfinished wood floors allow you to have a custom job –
you choose the wood species and it’s sanded and the stain
is applied on site. With unfinished you also have the
chance to level the surface of the entire floor after it
has been installed.

You get an extended factory finish warranty with
pre-finished floors, but not with most job-site finishes

Location is consideration No. 1.

To begin with, you need to look at where you plan on
installing your new wood floor.

There are limitations on where some wood floors can be
installed. This is especially true for the 3/4" solid wood
floors.

Solid hardwood floors are more susceptible to moisture and
are generally not recommended for basements, or installing
directly onto a concrete slab.

Be in the know about grain and cut.

Hardwood styles are the result of the wood species
available. Some of the more common species are red oak,
white oak, maple, cherry, white ash, hickory or pecan.

Each species has its own unique graining and texture. The
graining on the boards is determined by the way it has been
cut.

There are two cutting processes. “Sliced Cut” shows a more
uniform pattern, whereas “Rotary Cut” displays a larger and
bolder graining pattern.

Keep color in mind.

Within each species of hardwood you will have a choice of
color and finishes. Here’s where it pays to shop carefully.

When selecting a color, choose one that either coordinates
or contrasts with your cabinetry and furniture.

Also keep in mind that darker woods tend to be more formal
while natural colors are more casual.

Which finish?

You should be aware that there are different types of
finishes depending on whether your hardwood floor is
pre-finished or job site finished.

In general, lower gloss levels are better suited for active
rooms. This is because lower gloss or matte finishes help
minimize the appearance of dirt and scratches.

Consider the elegant look of the high gloss finish for a
more formal décor.

Upkeep is no big deal.

The days of having to wax and scrub your hardwood floors
are pretty much gone forever. Manufacturers of pre-finished
wood floors have developed sophisticated techniques to
quickly apply hard, durable, urethane-based finishes right
at the factory.

By using ultra violet lights the pre-finished wood planks
can have several coats of urethane applied within a matter
of a few minutes. This is helping make hardwood floors both
more affordable, and much easier to maintain.

Recently, the hardwood flooring manufacturers have begun to
add small chips of Aluminum Oxide directly to the floor's
finish which dramatically increases the life of the
urethane finish.

Protection lies in numerous coats.

Most factory finished hardwood floors have several coats of
finish applied to the wood's surface. As example, many wood
floor companies are applying 6-10 coats of a ultra-violet
(UV) cured urethane. This would be extremely difficult for
someone to duplicate on a job site finish, not to mention
how many days it would take.

This is one of the reasons why many flooring mechanics,
flooring retailers, and builders are pushing pre-finished
hardwood floors. Instead of taking several days to install
and finish a new hardwood floor a pre-finished hardwood
floor is generally done in one day.

This does not mean you should wash your floor with a mop,
but it does mean these floors won't watermark like the old
waxed hardwood floors. The UV cured urethane wood finishes
do make these floors easier to maintain than the old waxed
hardwood floors.

Polyurethane – A clear, tough and
durable finish that is applied as a wear layer.

Acrylic-urethane – A slightly different
chemical make up than Polyurethane with the same
benefits.

Ceramic – Advanced technology that
allows the use of space-age ceramics to increase the
abrasion resistance of the wear layer.

Aluminum Oxide – Added to the urethane
finish for increased abrasion resistance of the wear
layer, which is becoming extremely popular on the better
grade wood floors.

Acrylic Impregnated – Acrylic monomers
are injected into the cell structure of the wood to give
increased hardness and then finished with a wear layer
over the wood.

Job-site hardwood flooring finishing methods are also
available.

If you want a custom stained hardwood floor, or a wood
floor to match existing trim, than a job-site finish is
your answer.

Job-site finish means you start with a bare (unfinished)
hardwood floor and than the floor is sanded, stained, and
finished in the home.

The other advantage of a job-site finish is, if you are
concerned with uneven heights between planks, the sanding
process will smooth out the floor. Be warned, though, this
can be quite a mess and the process does take several days.

Job-site hardwood floor finishing methods include:

Water Based Urethane – Water is used as
part of the chemical make up of the polyurethane finish.

Solvent Based Urethane – Oil is used as
part of the chemical make up of the polyurethane finish.

Moisture Cured Urethane – A similar
chemical make up as solvent based urethanes, but this
finish needs the humidity (moisture) in the air to cure.

What to know about board widths.

When shopping for a hardwood floor you will see boards in
various sizes.

The narrower board widths are referred to as “strips” and
the wider units as “planks.”

You should be aware that board width can visually impact a
room.

Narrow width boards will expand a room, while wider boards
work well in a larger room or area.

All about edges.

Different hardwood floors have different edges. Hardwood
floors come in either a beveled edge, or a square edge.

Today, most hardwood floor manufacturers are calling their
beveled edge "eased edge" because the tapered edge
is dramatically reduced from the old deeply grooved edges.

The beveled edges do serve a purpose. The manufacturer can
produce beveled edge planks faster than square edge, which
in turn lowers their production costs.

Also, a beveled edge floor is more forgiving when installed
over irregular subfloors and you don't have the problem of
overwood (uneven plank heights abutting each other).

To help you understand hardwood edges, here’s a summary
of today’s types:

Square Edge:

The edges of all boards meet squarely creating a uniform,
smooth surface that blends the floor together from board to
board. The overall look of this floor gives a contemporary
flair and formal feeling to the room.

Eased Edge:

Each board is just slightly beveled. Some manufacturers add
an eased edge to both the length of the planks as well as
the end joints. Eased edges are used to help hide minor
irregularities, such as uneven plank heights. Eased edge is
also called micro-beveled edge.

Beveled Edge:

These products have a very distinctive groove in them.
Beveled edge planks lend themselves to an informal and
country decor. With the urethane finishes applied at the
factory today, the beveled edges are sealed completely,
making dirt and grit easy to be swept or vacuumed out of
the grooves.

Rating the hardness of wood.

Below are listed the relative hardness for numerous wood
species used in flooring.

These ratings were done using the Janka Hardness Test,
which measure the force needed to embed a .444 inch steel
ball to half its diameter in a piece of wood.

The higher the number the harder the wood. Although this is
one of the best methods to measure the ability of wood
species to withstand indentations, it should be used as a
general guide when comparing various species of wood
flooring.

The construction and finish also play an important role in
the durability and ease of maintenance of any wood floor.

Understanding the hardwood family should help you decide if
this is a flooring answer for you and your home. At the
very least, we hope this section has increased your
knowledge of hardwood, one of the most beautiful, inviting
and enduring flooring options around.

Red Oak

Red Oak is the most abundant growing species in the United States. The sapwood of Red Oak
is white to light brown while the heartwood has a pinkish reddish brown tone. It comes in four different grades:

Quartersawn

highest quality with almost no knotholes or color deviation.
Smooth Finish suggested.

Select

Second highest quality with few knotholes and very slight color deviations. Smooth finish suggested.

#1 Common

Third highest quality with more pronounced knotholes and color
deviations. Suggest hand scraped or smooth.

White Oak is similar to Red Oak but is slightly more dense and has longer rays. The sapwood is light colored and the heartwood is light to dark brown. White Oak comes in the same four grades as Red Oak:

Quartersawn

highest quality with almost no knotholes or color deviation.
Smooth Finish suggested.

Select

Second highest quality with few knotholes and very slight color deviations. Smooth finish suggested.

#1 Common

Third highest quality with more pronounced knotholes and color
deviations. Suggest hand scraped or smooth.

American Cherry grows primarily in the Midwestern and Eastern United States and is very hard and dense. The sapwood varies from a rich red to reddish brown and will darken with age. The sapwood tends to be a creamy white.

Hickory/Pecan

Hickory is the hardest, heaviest, and strongest American wood. The sapwood of hickory is white and the heartwood is pale to reddish brown. It can be finished smooth or hand scraped.

Maple

Growing in the Pacific Northwest, maple tends to be light but a very dense wood. Generally there is no marked difference between the sapwood and heartwood. Because of its density, maple is not recommended for high humidity areas. Smooth Finish suggested.

Pine

Tends to be a soft wood that absorbs moisture very well and is recommended for high humidity areas. The sapwood in pine is usually light yellowish-white while the heartwood tends to be yellowish-orange. Can be finished smooth or hand scraped.

Reclaimed Pine

Same characteristics as Pine, however it is recycled from old buildings (usually barns).

Walnut

Walnut grows primarily in the Eastern United states. The sapwood tends to be white while the heartwood ranges from a deep chocolate to purplish black. Walnut is great for borders and is finished smooth.

Mesquite

Mesquite grows primarily in the Southern United states and is known for being a very hard and durable wood. The sapwood tends to be pale while the heartwood is reddish brown. Mesquite usually contains lots of knotholes and a smooth finish is recommended.

Creating Your Space. All Rights Reserved.
All content and images are the property of
Creating Your Space
and may not be reproduced or used in any way without the written consent
of the owner.
Privacy Policy